Material guiding apparatus for rolling mills



1934- E. w. LARSEN MATERIAL GUIDING APPARATUS FOR ROLLING MILLS Filed Jui 14, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 E. W. LARSEN MATERIAL GUIDING APPARATUS FOR ROLLING MILLS Filed July 14, 1932 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 A1. a MW ATTORNEY 1934- E. w. LARSEN MATERIAL GUIDING APPARATUS FOR ROLLING MILLS Filed July 14, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 M/VZ-WTO/i' 15 W AA/PSW ATTORNEY g m IF... 1 km I Q? kw 3 A Patented Nov. 2 0, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MATERIAL GUIDENG APPARATUS FOR ROLLING MILLS Application July 14, 1932, Serial No. 622,369

10 Claims.

This invention relates to material guiding apparatus for rolling mills and more particularly to apparatus for selectively guiding rods to the reducing passes of a rod mill.

An object of the invention is to provide a simple, practical, and eificient pass selector for rolling mills. I

In accordance with one embodiment, the invention contemplates a groove or pass selector for rod mills comprising a set of advancing rolls, one of which is movable away from the other when a rod is fed therebetween, which movement conditions a mechanism for engaging a one revolution clutch when the movable roll moves toward the other roll at the escapement of the rear end of the rod from between the rolls. During the actuation of the clutch, a cam is rotated half a revolution, actuating a mechanism for moving a gate so as to direct the next rod through a chute to one pass of the reducing rolls, the previous rod having been directed by the gate through a chute to another pass of the reducing rolls, and the gate being moved after the escapement of each rod from between the advancing rolls so as to alternately direct successive rods to one and then another of the passes of the reducing rolls.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a top plan view of the apparatus;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the apparatus, a portion thereof being removed;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 44 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 55 of Fig. 4; 1

Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 6-6 of Fig. 5;

Fig. '7 is a sectional view taken on line '77 of Fig. 6; and

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary elevational view taken along the line 88 of Fig. 4.

Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals designate similar parts throughout the various views, numeral 10 designates a motor housing, in which is disposed a motor 11 operatively connected to a-drive shaft 12 by a belt and pulley connection 13. The drive shaft 12 is journaled in bearings of a stationary bracket 14 (Fig. 3), which is disposed in a gear housing 15 and has a pinion 16 fixed to one end thereof and in mesh with a gear 1'7 of an advancing roll 18. The advancing roll 18 is mounted upon a shaft 19, the ends of which are journaled in the stationary bracket 14 and one of the ends having the gear 1'7 and a beveled gear 20 fixed thereto, the purpose of the latter being hereinafter described.

Disposed above the stationary bracket 14 is a movable bracket 23 normally urged into engagement with the stationary bracket by helical springs 24 (only one of which is shown), the tension of which may be varied by an adjusting mechanism indicated generally at 25 and comprising a hand-wheel 26 arranged to rotate a pinion 27 to impart rotative movement to gears 28 and screws 29, the rotation of the latter causing vertical movement of internally threaded members30, resulting in the compression or expansion of the springs 24 to vary their downward force upon the bracket 23. A vertically movable advancing roll 33 is keyed to a shaft 34, the ends of which are journaled in the bracket 23 with one end having a gear 35 keyed thereto and operatively connected to the gear 1'7 through intermediate gears 36 and 37 (Fig. 2).

An inlet guide 38 fixed to the housing 15 adjacent an aperture 39 therein is positioned to guide a rod between the advancing rolls 18 and 33. A delivery spout 40 is mounted upon the housing 10 and extends into the housing 15 to a position adjacent the advancing rolls 18 and 33 so as to receive a rod from between the advancing rolls and directing the rod through a groove selector unit 41 in which a gate 4271s disposed for alter nately directing successive rods through a chute 43 and a chute 44 to grooves 45 and 46, respectively; of reducing rolls 47. The chutes 43 and 44 are pivotally mounted at 48 at their inner ends and secured in any desired adjusted positions by bolts, the heads of which are disposed in a groove in the top of the motor housing 10. This arrangement allows lateral adjustment of the chutes 43 and 44 to properly position the passageways therein in alignment with the grooves of the reducing rolls.

The selector unit is in the form of a housing having a conical shaped aperture 50 in one end thereof, in general alignment with a passageway 51 of the delivery spout 40. The other end'of the selector unit has an open end 52 adjacent the center of which is disposed a shaft 53 upon which is fixedly mounted the gate 42. A The shaft 53 has one end extending downwardly, upon which is mounted a lever 55, the outer end of which is normally urged in one direction by a spring 56 and arranged to be moved in the opposite direction by a gate actuating rod 57 operatively connected to a mechanism controlled by the movement of the advancing roll 33 relative.

cause a rocking movement of the lever and shaft;

. A lever 61 has one end fixed to the shaft 60 and the other end connected, by means of a link 62, to a reciprocating slide 63. The slide 63 is movably carried by a grooved bracket 64, mounted upon the housing 15, and has a latch 65 pivotally mounted at 66 thereupon and normally urged to the left (Fig. 4) by a spring .67. The lower end of the latch 65 has a lever engaging portion 68 arranged to engage one end of a stop lever 69, pivoted at 70 and having its other end projecting outwardly as at 71 to engage a clutch; actuating arm '72 '(Fig. 7). The stop lever is normally held inthe position shown in Fig. 4. by a spring 73 positioned beneath the end '71 and urging the stop levrinto engagement with a stop .74. Intermediate the lever engaging portion 68 and the pivot 66is an integral cam lug 75 arranged toen'ga'gea releasing finger 76.

""I he'clutch'actuating arm72 (Figs. 4, 5, 6 and 7) is .pivotally mounted at '77 and is disposed in a slot .78fl0f a clutch housing 79, which is held against rotation upon a continuously rotated sha'ft'BO until the clutch is engaged to connect the clutchhousing to the shaft. The inner end of the clutch actuating lever :72 is provided with gear teeth 81 which, interengage teeth 82 formed on a clutch member 83. A spring 84 having one end fixed to" the clutchhousing '79 and the other end liked to the outer end of the clutch actuating arm 72 causes the arm to move about its pivot when released by the stop lever 69 to rotate the clutch me ber 83 one-half a revolution. The clutch member 83 is circular in general cross-section and has a portion 100 cutaway to allow a grooved clutch member 85, which is disposed concentric with and keyed to the shaft, to rotate free of the clutch member '83 when the latter is disengaged therefrom. When the clutch actuating arm 72 is freed by the stop lever '71, the spring 84 causes rotation thereof and due to the connectionbetween the clutch actuating arm 72 and the cluto hmemb'er 83, the clutch member is rotated, moving one of the edges of the cutaway portion into engagement with the periphery of theclutch member 85 until it finds one of a plurality of arcuate shaped grooves 86 therein, after which further movement of the clutch member 83 by the spring 84 will bring about an engagement of the clutch to operatively connect the clutch housing 79 to the shaft 80. e

A continuous rotation of the shaft 80 is brought about by its connection to the bevel gear 20. (Figs. 3 and 5) through a bevel gear 110. The clutch housing 7,9 has a brake drum 38 fixed thereto which is engaged by continuously applied brake shoes 10 1 pivotally mounted at 87 and held in engagement with the brake drum by a spring 89. Bearings carried by the shaft 80 serve as a support for the-clutch housing which is fixed to one end'of a clutch shaft 90,- the latter being .journaled in bearingsof a bracket 91.

The other end of the clutch shaft'9llqhas a. gear 92 fixed thereto. which interengages a gear 93 integral with a hollow shaft 94, which. is jour.

naled in a bearing of the bracket 91. The gear 93 has a circular cutaway portion 95 adjacent the inner Wall of which is disposed the friction disc 96 of a suitable material to provide a frictional driving connection between the gear 93 and a hub 97, the latter being integral with a shaft 98, extending through the hollow shaft94 and normally urged to the left (Fig. 5) to hold the hub in intimate engagement with the friction disc by means of a spring 99. The hub 97 is fixed to a cam 102 having in engagement therewith a cam roller 103 carried by the actuating rod 57. The cam 102 has a high portion 104 and a low portion 105 and the ratio of the gears 92 and 93 being two to one, respectively, causes the roller 103 to ride upon the low portion 105 of the cam 102 during one revolution of the gear 92 andupon the high portion 104 of the cam 102 during another rotation of the gear 92.

Durin t e o era ion. ett en ere a the gate $2 iseither in one po"'t'o'n or the othen dependingup on the position into which it has been moved by the preceding actuationof the mechamet it b ass red hat th at .2 in the posi-tionshown in Fig. 1 and that a rod is fed betweenthe advancing rolls 18 and 33. h m snterst e ad assmsrel s h lr 33 will be moved upwardly against the tension of t s r s 2 mo th it he amat u n o ev 5. aus n ae wn ard m n of the lever 61 and the slide-63 (Figs. 2, 3 and :4), The downward movement of the slide brings ,the latch 65v into the position showndn Fig. 4, after riding. over a tapered surface ofthe stop lever 69 and moved to the right-about-the pivot 66 against the tension of the spr BS3651, until the lever engaging portion fiil, is tree P 1 995 beneat t ad ac t e d t e ste ere -;1 hi t o of the mechanism is conditioned, as just de scribed, as soon asthe rod enters the rolls 18 and 33 and remains at restiuntil the rear end of the rod passes from between [the advancing rolls.

Thepath of the rod daring-itsadvancement through theapparatus, whilethe gate 42 .iszin the position shown-in Fig. =1 is between the .ad-I

which is connected to stopleveryfifi; and.,=bringin about a irockingrmovementlofg the stop liever'qjto free the end 71 thereof from -the clutch actuating arm 72. As .soon :as the clutchactuating is released, the spring 84.:will move thexarm about its pivot, causing irritation. of :the clutch member 83 until one of the grooves 86 of the clutchimember S5 is brought :into engagement qtherewilth, after which the clutch member 83,105;the-force ;o1f ;the

spring 84 pulling the arm. '72, willvmove arouately into the. grooves, bringing aboutza positive won-.- nection between the-clutch housing 719. and'cthe continuously rotated shafit 89,-.

The clutch housing is permitted. toirotateionly:

one. complete. revolution for the, reason that the stop. lever 69, :which is normally urged; mm time.

pOSltlOIIgSkIOWIIMl-ILFlg. '4 by the sp ing {73 =iS :l .e-. leased from, the latch when the latchis anoued. upwardlywa ,sufiicient distance-.- with the: slide .263.

to move the cam lug 75 of the latch into engagement with the releasing finger '76. The stop lever is, therefore, released after the end 71 is moved free of the clutch actuating arm '72 and before the clutch housing has been rotated a complete revolution so that it will be in readiness to engage the clutch actuating arm and move it against the tension of the spring 84 to move the clutch member 83 out of engagement with the clutch member 85. As shown in Fig. 4, the cam roller 103 is upon the low portion 105 of the cam 102 and one complete revolution of the clutch housing 75, together'with one complete revolution of the gear 92, will rotate the cam 102 half a revolution, moving the high portion 104 of the cam into engagement with the cam roller 103, resulting in a movement of the rod 5'? against the tension of the spring 56. This movement ofv the rod 5'? will bring about a movement of the lever to rotate the shaft 53 and swing the gate 42 from the position shown in Fig. 1 to a position upon the opposite side of the aperture 50 so that a subsequent rod, passing between the advancing rolls 18 and 33, will be directed through the chute 44 and into the grooves 46 of the reducing rolls 47.

The gate 42 is shifted into one position, after a rod has passed thereby and as soon as a subsequent rod enters the advancing rolls 18 and 33, the mechanism shown in Fig. l is conditioned; that is, the latch is moved into engagement with the stop lever 69, to actuate the clutch shown in Figs. 5 and 6, when the rear end of the rod passes from beneath the advancing rolls. The purpose of the friction connection between the gear 93 and the hub 97 of the cam 102 is to allow relative movement of these members should the rod be stopped in its travel after the rear end has escaped from between the advancing rolls 18 and 33 and before it has passed through the selecting unit. Normally the travel of a rod is at a rate of speed which is suificiently fast to enable the rear end thereof to be moved through the aperture 50 prior to the shifting of the gate 42.

Although the invention herein described and illustrated is particularly well adapted for selectively guiding rods to reducing passes of a rod mill, it will be understood that the invention is capable of many other modifications and adaptations and is to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In an apparatus for guiding material to grooves of reducing rolls, a pair of advancing rolls, one of which being mounted for transverse movement caused by the entrance of a length of material between the advancing rolls and the escapement of material therefrom, a gate for alternately directing successive lengths of material to the grooves of said reducing rolls, means for moving said gate from one position to another, and means actuated by the transverse movement of said advancing roll for conditioning said gate moving means.

2. In an apparatus for guiding material to grooves of reducing rolls, a pair of advancing rolls, one of which being mounted for transverse movement caused by the entrance of a length of material between the advancing rolls and the escapement or" material therefrom, a gate for alternately directing successive lengths of material to the grooves of said reducing rolls, means for moving said gate from one position to another, means actuated by the transverse movement of said advancing roll for conditioning said gate moving means, and means actuated by the movement of said advancing roll at the escapement of the material therefrom for rendering effective said gate moving means.

3. In an apparatus for guiding material to grooves of reducing rolls, a gate movable to alternately direct successive lengths of material to grooves of the reducing rolls, a continuously rotating shaft, a gate moving means, means for alternately connecting and disconnecting said gate moving means to said shaft, and means operatively associating said gate moving {means with said gate to alternately move said gate from I one position to another.

4. In an apparatus for guiding material to reducing passes of a rolling mill, a guiding element movable intermittently from one position to another, means for advancing lengths of material past said guiding element, a continuously rotatable element, means for rotating said rotatable element, means for moving said guiding element, and means operatively connected to said advancing means and rendered effective when the material completes its pass through said advancing means for operatively connecting said element moving means to said continuously rotatable element for moving said guiding element from one position to another.

5. In an apparatus for guiding material to reducing passes of a rolling mill, advancing rolls for advancing lengths of material movable relative to each other by the material entering and leaving said rolls, a guiding element movable intermittently from one position to another, a continuously rotatable element, means for moving said guiding element, a clutch for connecting said element moving means to said continuously rotatable means when released, and means operatively connected to said advancing rolls and effected by the relative movement of said rolls when the end of the material leaves the rolls for releasing said clutch.

6. In an apparatus for guiding material to reducing passes of a rolling mill, advancing rolls for advancing lengths of material movable relative to each other by the material entering and leaving said rolls, a guiding element movable intermittently from one position to another, a continuously rotatable element means for moving said guiding element, a clutch for connecting said element moving means to said continuously rotatable element when engaged, means operatively connected to said advancing rolls and effected by the relative movement of said rolls when the end of the material leaves said rolls for engaging said clutch, and means for actuating said clutch fordisconnecting said element moving means from said continuously rotatable element.

7. In an apparatus for guiding material to reducing passes of a rolling mill, advancing rolls for advancing lengths of material movable relative to each other by the material entering and leaving said rolls, a guiding element movable intermittently from one position to another, a continuously rotatable element, means for moving said guiding element, a clutch for connecting said element moving means to said continuously rotatable element when engaged, means operatively connected to said advancing rolls and effected by the relative movement of said rolls when the end of the material leaves the rolls for engaging said clutch, and means for actuating said clutch for disconnecting said element moving means from said vcontinuously rotatable element, said was clutch engaging means being conditioned by the entrance of a subsequent length :of material between said advancing rolls for engaging said clutch when the subsequent length of material leaves said advancing roll.

18. In anapparatus for guiding material to reducing passes of a rolling mill, a guiding element alternately movable from one position to another, advancing rolls for advancing lengths .of material past said guiding element, a reciprocating member operatively connected to said guiding elemei t, a seontinuously rotatabie element, means for moving said reciprocating element, and means conditioned by a length of material entering said advancing rolls and actuated by the material leaving said advancing rolls for operatively connecting said moving means to said continuously rotatable element for moving said reciprocating member and said guiding element. 3

,9. In an apparatus for guiding material to reducing passes of a rolling mill, a guiding element movable intermittently from one position to another, advancing rolls for advancing lengths of material past said guiding -.e1 ement, a con- :tinuously rotatable element, means for rotating said rotatable element, means formoving said guiding element, a clutch for operatively conmeeting said element moving means to said cont- 1.0. In ,an apparatus for guiding material-to" grooves of reducing rolls, a gate movable to al- .ternately direct successive lengths of material to grooves of the reducing rolls, a continuously rotatable shaft, a gate moving means, a clutch op- .erated by each length of material for alternately connecting and disconnectingsaid gate moving means to said shaft, and means operatively connectingsaid gate moving means, withsaid gate to alternately move said gate from one position to another.

- EINER W. LARSEN. 

